Clamp for fractured jaw



Mby l, i951 F. G. sALisBURY CLAMP FOR FRACTURED JAW Filed June 14, 1949hyvery'or E G Saisbury Patented May 1, `1951 A UNITED STATES rATENTorties Frederick Garfield Salisbury- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CanadaApplication June 14, 1949,' Serial No., 98,931'

(Cl- 12S-89 Ihe present practiceot treating a broken jaw bone. is; toconnect wires frornthe upper set of teethot the: patient to the teeth inthe jaw bone, the wires criss-crossingback and forth so as to maintainthe Ijaw bone in.A its propt-:rposition for knitting together. If thepatient has a full setof teeth, one tooth is extracted so that thepatient can be fed through a tube. The result of this method is that thepatient has his jaw vlocked tight for a matter ofl three or four weekswhilethe, boneisv healing, the mouth cannotv becleansed or rinsed outand it is usually necessary forl an attendant to beon hand to cut thewires if for any reason the patient begins to choke.

Other methods used for the same purpose consists in supporting the jawVfrom av skull cap `or tapping holes in the jaw bone for the securing ofexterior clamping members. The skull cap method maintains: the jawclosed inthe same 'manner as. the wiring while the exterior jaw clamps,secured by screws, results in mutilation of the face.

,The principal objectY of the present invention is to devise a clampingdev-ice which will hold the broken jawbones, in` position for thenatural `ktnitting process, withoutY injury in any manner l Vto thepatient.

' design the device in a simple and. compact manner, so that it can bedismantled, and. also provide adjustments thereon for drawing the jawboneY into the. original position. l

With the above important and other minor objects irl-view which wil-lbecome more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consistsessentially in the construction, assembly and the method of using thedevice hereinafter more particularly described, references being had tothe accompanying drawings of which:

Figure- 1 is a prole View of the lower part of the face showing an X-rayView` Qt the` teeth and with the clampy installed in position and invertical section.

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective View of the assembled clampandshowing an extensionon Vone side.

Figure 3 is a perspective v-iewj of the upper part of the clamp with thenished vulcanized posed, of two arms I and 2,.. The arm I comprises asemi-circular horizontal fork member 3 which is formedin-tegral with ahorizontal strap member II,v bentV at right angles at 5 to form a leg6*. Theleg is centrally provided with a slot 'l' having Square corneredends. vA; threaded rod 81 is centrally secured to the horizontal member4 and projects downwardly in front of the slot 1.

The, arm 2, is formed from flat materialV and of a relative. heel-shape.The iront portion of the heel is shaped in a` shallow inverted v-shape9v whilev the sides are dished upwardly as at I0 with the rear part ofthe sides curving inwardly and together at the back to form a nick I-Ifor a purposelater described. A strap-shaped member t2 passes, centrallyunder the arrn 2. The front of. this member is centrally provided withay slot I3 while thev arml 2 is centrally provided with a front stud I4and a rear bolt I5 which are both. received in the slot I3. As the studand bolt are closer together than the length of the slot, they canslide4 up and down therein for adjustment while a nut I6 on the bolt I5can be tightened to hold the two together in the required adjustedposition. The rear portion of thestrap member. I2 is formed with arearwardly to receive Va wing nut i8.

- When the two arms,y are connected together the tongue I'I is. passedthrough the slot 'I while the threaded rod 8 is passed through a centralholein the strap member l2 and the lower end of' rhe rod receives a wingnut I9. The wing nut t8 is then threaded on the tongue, II.

lflrorrr the above disclosure it will be seen that the arm 2 can beadjusted forwardly or rearwardly by thefuse of the slot I 3 and the studand bolts I4 and I5 respectively. In the rear positionthe threaded rod,8 is received by the nick Ii and by turning the wing nut I9 the arm 2can be moved up and down toward or away from the I. When the two. are inthe proper po.- sition, thawing nut i8 can be tightened lto lock the twoarms firmly together.

lin using` the clamp for repairing Va fractured human jaw the wing nutsI8 and I9 are loosened to allow full play of the arms I and 2.Impression compound 20, such as used by dentists, is placed in theheel-shaped part of the arm 2 while impression wax, (not shown) used bydentists, is placed completely around the fork member 3 of the arm I;The broken jaw bones are rst. manually set into position. The forkmember 3 is then placed in the mouth andv by pressing the lheel-shapedarm 2 up and under the human jaw cellophane (not shown) is placed overthe impression compound before the clamp is used to prevent any hair onthe outer surface of the jaw from becoming imbedded in the impressioncompound. The clamp is held in this position until the impressioncompound sets. The pressure is then released so that the mouth opens andthe teeth leave the wax with the impression of their shape therein. Theclamp is then removed from the face.

The fork member 3, with. the wax impression of the teeth thereon, isthen placed in a mold form (not shown) which is known as a dental flaskand an impression in plaster of Paris (not shown) is made therefrom.This plaster of Paris would then be in kthe form of the patients teeth.

The impression wax is then removed from the fork member and impressionrubber 22 is inserted Vin its place. The fork member is again placed inthe dental fiask and the plaster of Paris therein is pressed thereonwhich forms the rubber into the same shape of the previous impressionwax. This rubber is then vulcanized to a relatively hard consistency andsecures the rubber to the fork member. The supper surface of thevulcanized member is then ground off so that the rubber looks as shownat 23 in Figures 3 and 4 with the teeth impression shown as slightindents 23. The impression of the lower teeth is left deep as shown at24 in Figure 4. lThe transfer of the impression Yin wax to thevulcanized rubber is a well known dental operation and therefore notshown in the drawings.

The clamp is then adjusted to the human jaw 2| as shown in Figure 1, thelower teeth 25 being received in the deep indents 24 of the vulcanizedrubber while the upper teeth 26 are received in the indents 23'. Thecellophane has been removed from the impression compound and itperfectly fits the outer surface of the jaw 2 l When the wing nut I9 istightened up the jaw is clamped between the hard rubber and theimpression compound. When iirmly in the correct position holding thebones in place, the wing nut I8 is tightened to lock the clamp rigid.

According to the above disclosure it will be seen that the patient willbe able to move the lower `jaw 2l up and down in a natural movementwhile the clamp moves therewith. The patient is permitted to eat and thejaw is free to move sideways, due to the slight indents 23 and so grindthe food while the mouth can be washed out to maintain it in a sanitarycondition. No teeth need to be extracted, no threaded holes are bored inthe jaw bone and no skull cap is required. The broken parts of the jaware firmly held in position for the healing process of natureto knit the.bones together and at the end of a period of `are of a wing-shape witha rolled edge corresponding to the edges ID of the clamp 2. They areprovided with corresponding holes to register with the hole 28 and theslot 29 and bolts 3-5 Vpass through these holes and through the holes2i! and slots 29 to secure the extensions to the .clamp 2. By providingthe slot 29 the extensions can be adjusted to conform to the contour ofthe face. These extensions permit the impression compound to extend allaround the' face and up 4 the sides to hold the broken bones at the sideof the jaw in position.

What Iclaim as my invention is:

1. A clamp for a fractured jaw, comprising: a base plate adapted to bearbeneath the chin; a support member extending from said base plate; aVU-shaped plate positioned above said base plate and adapted to enter themouth and be positioned between the upper and lower teeth; an extensionprojecting horizontally from Said U-shaped plate, adapted to pass outthe mouth and then extend downwardly as a leg; screw means between saidextension and said support member for adjustably varying the distancebetween said plates, to clamp the fractured parts of said jaw inposition therebetween; and means securing said support member to saidleg in said adjustedpositions of said plates.

2. A clamp for a fractured jaw, comprising: a base plate for receptionagainst the under side of the chin; a support member extending from saidbase plate and terminating in a threaded tongue; a semi-circular-shapedarm positioned in spaced relation above said base plate and having acentrally positioned handle extending therefrom; said handle bent atright angles toward said base plate as a leg; a central slot formedlongitudinally in said leg to receive said threaded tongue therethrough;a nut on said tongue to clamp said support member to said leg; athreaded rod profleeting from said handle, adjacent saidsemicircular-shaped arm, passing through said support member andprovided with a threaded nut, for adjustably drawing said base plate andsaid semi-circular arm together.

3. A clamp for a fractured jaw, comprising: a base plate, havingupwardly curved sides, for reception against the under side of thechin;a support member for said base plate, adjustably secured to the underside thereof, extending therepast, and terminating in a threaded tongue;a semi-circular-shaped arm positioned in spaced relation above said baseplate and having a centrally positioned handle extending therefrom; saidhandle bent at right angles toward said base plate as a leg; a centralslot formed longitudinally in said leg to receive said threaded tonguetherethrough; a nut on said tongue to clamp said support member to saidleg; a threaded 'rod projecting from said handle, adjacent saidsemicircular-shaped arm, passing throughsaid support member and providedwith a threaded nut, for adjustably drawing said base plate andsemicircular arm together; and removable extensions swingably andadjustably mounted on either side of said base plate, to form acontinuation of the sides of said base plate.-

FREDERICK GARFIELD SALISBURSSZ.V

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 750,615 Dailey Jan. 26, 1904 878,577Stukey Feb. 11, 1908 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 342,059 GermanyOct. 12, 1921 598,605 Germany June 18, 1934 OTHER REFERENCES AmericanJournal of Orthodontics Surgery for Aug. 1944, pages 418-419.

& Oral

